Chapter 28
Elizabeth’s Bedchamber
Longbourn
Eight O’clock in the evening
Elizabeth pushed the door closed with a firm click, wandered over to the cheerful fire, and spared a moment to be thankful for the maid who had started the fire at least some minutes ago, which meant that her room was not bitterly cold.
She pushed a chair near the fire, sat down, and leaned forward to wiggle her fingers in the heat. It was a relief to stretch her fingers after clasping them tightly for so long.
She groaned aloud as her mind turned to the previous few hours.
Dinner had been an unpleasant affair, with Mr. Collins displaying an admirable commitment to treating his desired bride with a stiffness and coldness that could not but daunt the bravest heart, and Lady Bennet interspersing her raptures over Jane's engagement with waspish comments about how nice it would be to have two daughters well engaged.
Elizabeth had eaten her meal in silence, not speaking to her cousin unless strictly necessary and ignoring her mother's barbs.
She could not, however, ignore a direct command delivered as Lady Bennet rose from the table, to join her mother in the east sitting room as soon as she was done eating.
Mr. Collins had trailed his hostess from the dining room, and Elizabeth, though well aware of the ordeal before her, had sighed and followed shortly after.
The following interlude was every bit as painful as she had expected.
She sat demurely on the couch, her hands folded in her lap, as Lady Bennet and Mr. Collins loomed over her, arguing, declaiming, coaxing, tearfully begging, and declaring how advantageous a match would be between Elizabeth and her cousin.
She had listened in patient silence, looking from one to another as they spoke, each in turn and sometimes over each other, but when they would pause to press her for her answer, her response was polite but remained unchanged, a firm no.
Each time, Mr. Collins would swell indignantly, rather like a toad preparing to croak, and Lady Bennet would wail aloud and berate and harangue and weep.
Elizabeth's hands slowly knotted more and more tightly in her lap, her expression steady even as she hoped more and more earnestly that her indignant relatives would give over soon and leave her in peace.
Unexpected deliverance arrived in the form of Sir Thomas, erupting through the sitting room door hard on the heels of one of Lady Bennet's shrieks.
He had looked between wife and cousin with palpable annoyance and instructed them both curtly to desist, that Elizabeth had made her answer plain, and that she was not to be continuously importuned about it.
He had then dismissed Elizabeth to her bedchamber.
Elizabeth had fled, grateful for her father's interference, but she well knew that her mother was nothing if not determined, and feared that as soon as Sir Thomas wandered off to the library, Lady Bennet would make her way to Elizabeth’s bedchamber to harass her more.
A sudden tap at the door caused her to stiffen with alarm, and she turned just as the door opened to reveal, to her very great relief, her three younger sisters and Miss Fairchild.
“Come in, please,” she said, gesturing for the ladies to join her by the fire.
They did so with alacrity, and as soon as the door was shut, Lydia said with flashing eyes, “Lizzy, we wished to tell you that we are entirely on your side regarding Mr. Collins. He is a very silly man and would make you completely miserable. You are being perfectly sensible in refusing him!”
“Yes, you are,” Kitty agreed fervently while Mary, standing a few feet away, nodded wordlessly.
Elizabeth felt a rush of gratitude at these words, and she said, “Thank you for your support, all of you. Mr. Collins and I are not at all suited for marriage, and I will not give in to Mamma, but it is hard.”
“I can well understand,” Kitty said, her face pinched with worry. “I hate disappointing Mamma, and I am thankful you are braver and more determined than I am.”
“We were wondering whether you would like to sleep in my room tonight,” Lydia offered. “I could stay with Kitty, and Mamma would not know where you were.”
Elizabeth was startled, but a moment later, she nodded and said, “That is kind of you, though it is too early to go to bed, really.”
“I would like to look at the comet tonight,” Mary said, speaking for the first time. “Jane said that Mr. Bingley is interested as well, along with the Darcys. If we went out to the back pasture, our mother would be equally unable to find you.”
Elizabeth grinned and nodded immediately. “That is a wonderful idea. I would far rather be out staring into the beautiful heavens than hiding in my room, fearful of being berated about Mr. Collins!”
***
Billiards Room
Netherfield Hall
Twenty Minutes Later
“I know I did not speak to you before offering for Jane,” Bingley said as he poured a glass of Madeira for his closest friend, “but I was afraid you would try to talk me out of it, and I have never been so certain of anything in my life!”
Darcy accepted the glass and wandered over to stand with his back to the fire. It was a chilly night, and the warmth was welcome.
“It is your decision, of course,” he said in a neutral tone.
In truth, he had been aggrieved when Bingley had returned home at noon with the announcement of his engagement, but the offer had been made, and accepted, and no gentleman of honor would withdraw under such conditions.
Therefore, the only reasonable option was for him to support his friend.
“I might have told you if I was not worried that my sisters would react poorly to the engagement,” Bingley continued, sitting down on a wingbacked chair and then taking a long, luxurious sip of Madeira.
“They seem quite pleased though,” Darcy said truthfully.
“Yes,” Bingley said with a nod. “I know they would have preferred that my bride come with her own fortune, but Jane is a treasure regardless of her lack of riches. I daresay they would be far less pleased if not for the Bennet family’s friendship with the Countess of Keaton.
Connections are, in Caroline’s mind anyway, even more important than wealth. ”
“Did you speak to Miss Bennet on the subject of Emerald Island?” Darcy asked curiously.
“I did, and Jane was quick to say that Elizabeth deserves the island as she has been working hard for many years to manage both Emerald Island and Longbourn. Moreover, given the complication of Mr. Collins…”
He trailed off, shook his head, and took another drink.
“What about Mr. Collins?” Darcy demanded.
Bingley wrinkled his nose and said, “Both Lady Bennet and Mr. Collins wish for the latter to marry Miss Elizabeth, as that would bring the two estates together in one marriage.”
Darcy was sufficiently startled and horrified that he choked on his wine and spun around so that if he was forced to spit, the liquid would go into the fire instead of on the red and blue Persian rug.
He coughed for a full twenty seconds, struggling to regain control of his breathing, and when he had, his chest hurt a little.
“Are you all right, Darcy?” Bingley demanded, and the master of Pemberley turned back around to discover his friend now standing with a worried look on his face.
“Yes, yes,” he replied in a slightly constricted tone and swallowed hard before continuing, “Yes. My apologies. I was merely shocked and, I confess, dismayed.”
“You do not like Mr. Collins?” Bingley asked with a slight grin.
“I do not,” Darcy stated with a grimace, “and given my knowledge of my aunt’s choice of underlings, I am certain he is as annoyingly sycophantic as he seems, and he is certainly not an appropriate bride for an intelligent woman like Elizabeth Bennet.”
Bingley’s smile grew, and he said, “You will be relieved to hear, then, that Elizabeth is entirely in agreement with you. She refused her cousin’s offer without hesitation and rather forcefully, given his inability to think reasonably.”
Darcy felt every muscle in his body relax and was surprised. Why did he care so much?
“That was sensible,” he said and then firmly turned the subject before Bingley had a chance to inquire about his unusual reaction. “When will you and Miss Bennet marry?”
“We have not spoken of that yet,” Bingley said and added ruefully, “Lady Bennet was very pleased at the engagement, but she interspersed her cries of joy with outrage over Elizabeth’s refusal of Collins. It was not the sort of environment that allowed for much planning.”
Darcy sighed. He understood the thinking behind the proposed match.
Indeed, it was rather like Lady Catherine’s insistence that he marry his cousin Anne.
But to force a marriage between two individuals who were not at all compatible?
It was idiocy! He was thankful that Miss Elizabeth had the strength of will to refuse.
His mind’s eye shifted to Anne de Bourgh, his pale, weak cousin and the heiress of Rosings; and he found himself gulping down the rest of his wine.
She was not an unpleasant person, his cousin, but they had almost nothing in common, and both were overly quiet.
Truthfully, he and Anne were not compatible either.
And yet, he had never made a firm decision against marrying the lady.
Was it possible that Elizabeth Bennet was braver and wiser than he?
The door opened to reveal a butler, who entered with a silver tray in one hand, on which reposed a letter.
Bingley took the missive, nodded his thanks, opened it, scanned it, and then looked at his friend and smiled. “Would you and Georgiana care to look at a comet tonight, my friend?”
***
Back Field
Longbourn
An Hour Later
“Please climb up onto the platform,” Miss Elizabeth said, “and be cautious. I would not want anyone to trip.”
Fitzwilliam Darcy slightly tightened his grip on Georgiana’s arm, and together they climbed the steps onto the smooth wooden platform, with Bingley and Jane Bennet a pace behind them.
The Bingley and Bennet carriages waited some small distance away, with the coachmen holding the reins of their respective horses.
Once they were in the correct position on the platform, Darcy allowed himself to relax, even as he looked up into the skies, which were a glittering field of diamonds.
No moon glided through the sky to obscure the stars, nor did unfriendly clouds block the clear points of light.
The earth was shrouded in darkness, but the stars cast a faint but sufficient light for Darcy to see a distant wall of trees and, nearer at hand, a shifting shadow that must be Miss Elizabeth laboring over the telescope and its viewfinder.
He took a deep breath of cold air and let it out slowly, savoring a peaceful moment in which to relax while Georgiana shifted a little closer to enjoy his heat.
They were, of course, warmly dressed, and he felt a strange solemnity at being outside at night in a field, far from duties and other people, waiting in the near darkness.
“Here it is,” Elizabeth Bennet said, and Darcy saw the shadow move. “Please come toward my voice, Miss Darcy, and I will show you.”
Darcy supported his sister as she went forward and then waited. It took only a few seconds for Georgiana to find the comet, and he heard her gasp of wonder. He scanned the heavens again with his eyes but could not find the comet.
Two minutes later, Georgiana stepped aside, and Miss Elizabeth said, “I will need to move the stepping stool for you, Mr. Darcy, as you are so much taller than I am. Give me a moment.”
He did, and then she guided him to the telescope, and his breathing quickened at the feel of that slender hand on his arm. He placed his eye to the eyepiece and found himself staring in wonder.
It was amazing beyond his imagination. He had expected a slightly brighter star, perhaps with a thin gleaming trail of stardust, but not this glorious blaze of white fire with its tail streaming behind it in a brilliant veil.
It stood starkly against the deep blackness of the firmament, the faint stars entirely overshadowed by the comet's magnificence.
His life was a busy one, and he rarely took the time to stand in the darkness, gazing into the heavens. He was master of a great estate, guardian of a much younger sister, and one of the wealthier men in all of the kingdom.
And yet, when he considered how small he was compared to the depths of space, how minuscule he was compared to God Almighty, who created the Heavens and the Earth, well, perhaps he was not that important after all.
A sound impinged upon his ears, that of a carriage door opening, followed by a familiar feminine voice.
“Did you find it, Lizzy?”
“I did, Mary,” Elizabeth called from Darcy’s side.
“I will be there in a moment!”
“Mary,” Jane Bennet chimed in. “Charles and I have yet to observe the comet, so if you are willing to wait a minute…”
“Of course!” the female astronomer returned, her voice drawing closer in the darkness. “Please do take your time, but when you are done, please leave. I expect to be here for many hours making observations.”
Darcy was a trifle startled at this imperative command, but he also appreciated Miss Mary’s single-minded focus on her interest in the heavens.
And yet, it was Miss Elizabeth who was truly remarkable. She was clever, kind, charming, and beautiful, and a true lady, while still managing not one, but two estates. She was also, oddly enough, able to use a telescope with sufficient skill to find a wayward comet in the night.
In truth, she was not merely remarkable. She was astounding.